The invention relates to a portable container for valuable articles such as credit cards or envelopes containing currency, for example.
The invention has application, for example, to a portable depository container for use with automated teller machines (ATMs) of the kind wherein a user inserts a customer identifying card into the machine and then enters certain data (such as codes, amount of cash required or to be paid in, type of transaction, etc.) upon a keyboard, and deposits in the machine any currency notes to be paid in. The machine will then process the transaction, update the user's account to reflect the current transaction, dispense cash if necessary, and return the card to the user and issue a transaction record slip as part of a routine operation. The container may serve as a collecting receptacle for customer identifying cards (for example invalid cards) captured by an ATM or for envelopes containing cash deposited in an ATM, and may be used for transporting collected cards or envelopes to a bank at a location remote from the ATM in which the container was used.
One known portable depository container, such as that disclosed in European patent application having Publication No. 0010598, is provided with a lock for locking the container in a closed condition and for unlocking the container to enable it to be opened to permit valuable articles such as currency notes to be deposited in the container. The container is arranged to be placed while in a locked condition in a secure housing, and to be unlocked and filled with currency notes within the housing while the container is secured against removal therefrom by means of mechanical interlocks. However, such known depository container has a disadvantage from a security point of view in that the lock can be opened in an illegal or unauthorized manner while the container is outside the secure housing, and there is no means of knowing whether such illegal or unauthorized opening of the container has taken place.
Another known portable container for valuable articles incorporates tamper indicating means for indicating whether an unauthorized unlocking of the container has taken place. Such known container is adapted to be inserted into an ATM, and is arranged to be unlocked while inserted or while in the process of being inserted. After the container has been unlocked once, the tamper indicating means prevents reinsertion of the container into the ATM without the container having first been removed to a secure or authorized location for opening of the container and for resetting of the tamper indicating means. A problem experienced with such known container is that the tamper indicating means may be prematurely activated due to a fumbled insertion of the container in the ATM or due to the need for removal of the container to permit servicing of the ATM, such premature activation possibly resulting in the ATM being taken out of service until a container having a reset tamper indicating means is obtained for insertion into the ATM.